The hot topic in the Greenland Hills and Vickery Place neighborhoods is the possible building of a “sound wall” along the Central Expressway access road.

One item recently approved in the City’s bond package was $450,000, inserted apparently at the behest of outgoing District 9 Councilman Glenn Box, to be used towards building a sound wall roughly from Monticello to Vickery.

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The City money would be used to acquire the right-of-way and to close the three streets and four alleys between Monticello and Vickery. The plan calls for the sound wall to be built with $500,000 in state funds, which the Texas Department of Transportation says is not currently available.

The affected neighborhoods weren’t involved in the planning, and when residents found out, concerns arose about noise and cut-through traffic on the streets not closed off.

Complicating matters further is the question of where the openings in the sound wall, if any, will be located, as well as the amount of land to be taken for turnarounds. Residents along McCommas and Monticello are concerned that if there are openings in the sound wall on their streets, they will get all the cut-through traffic between Central and Greenville.

At a raucous, four-hour meeting last month, both neighborhoods decided to ask the City Council to appropriate $75,000 for an area traffic study. The pace of redevelopment in the area, and the long-term possibility of a Knox-Henderson DART rail station, makes a traffic study of the area appear almost imperative to help protect the neighborhoods.

PATCHING TOGETHER A DEVELOPMENT: Plans are afoot to assemble the properties between Henderson and Homer, on both sides of Willis and Richard, into a large development tract. The affected properties are either already purchased, under contract, or in negotiation, and appear to have the multi-family zoning needed for a planned 180-unit apartment complex.

The developer plans to replat the property into one development site and ask for the abandonment of Willis and Richard from Homer to Henderson, blocking these streets from access to and from Henderson.

One potential issue, besides the size of the development and its proximity to single-family homes, is the possible shifting of more traffic to Miller and Belmont. The applicant plans to meet with the surrounding neighborhoods before proceeding.

POSSIBLE PROSPECTS: Representatives of the owners of the old Greenville Avenue Christian Church site at Greenville and Llano are continuing to meet with area neighborhoods to discuss possible development options. The six lots comprising the site are zoned for single-family housing.

The range of possible proposals include retail, mixed-use, parking, townhouse, duplex or some combination thereof, perhaps in the form of a planned development.

The position area neighborhoods take is important in putting together a community consensus on the site, if one is possible. The neighborhoods have a long-standing policy of supporting residential zoning over commercial zoning along Greenville Avenue, although in this instance, building and selling single-family homes on the site seems unlikely.

More will be forthcoming as the story develops.

MORE INFORMATION NEEDED: In another situation relating to Greenville and Henderson traffic, the City Plan Commission recently delayed considering two rezoning applications, one at Hudson and Hope in East Garrett Park and one in the 4300 block of Rowena.

The affected neighborhoods needed to have an information meeting with the applicant, a development company affiliated with Fiesta Food store. City Council consideration is still expected June 14.

The two sites are expected to provide additional parking for Fiesta’s impending redevelopment of the Old Ross Avenue area, including the abandoned Sears site. The Rowena Street tract also is a potential retail site.

While the neighborhoods generally favor the overall project and it has strong Council and staff support, making approval virtually certain, some questions remain about traffic and mitigation factors, such as fences and landscaping.

PARKING PROBLEMS ADDRESSED: The Plan Commission recently adopted amendments to the Lower Greenville Modified Delta Ordinance, which will likely receive Council approval.

The amendments will require one-to-one replacement of paved-over, head-in parking spaces; one parking space per 300 square feet of outdoor seating placed on sidewalks; remove the Board of Adjustment’s power to grant a 25 percent parking reduction variance; add more objective criteria for enforcement of the ordinance; and increase the distance and number of spaces allowed for remote parking.

PUBLIC HEARING SCHEDULED: The City Plan Commission authorized a public hearing for amendments proposed by a community-based task force to improve the provisions of Planned Development District 99, which runs along Gaston from Fitzhugh to the Lakewood Shopping Center.

The amendments would divide the district into subdistricts by permitted use, provide incentives for preservation and rehabilitation, and give architectural guidelines for renovations. The public hearing should take place in a few months.

POSSIBLE REZONING: The four non-conforming uses stretching from 4814 Gaston to 4832 Gaston south of Fitzhugh are facing termination by the Board of Adjustment.

The sites’ owners have applied for rezoning to become conforming by amending Planned Development District 362 to allow more retail uses on the sites, which are in Councilman Chris Luna’s district.

Plan Commission consideration is scheduled for June 8.